Nehyr:The American Academy
by Wartoisemon
Summary: A story that centers around an American wizarding school. Brendan Spryn, a Muggle-born boy, is confused enough when he was told he was a wizard. But once he arrives at Nehyr, the school, he has a far greater mystery to solve. *Chapter 2 Up*
1. Not An Ordinary Mall

nehyr AN:Hi! My first Harry Potter fic. Like the title suggest, this story takes place in America, at an American wizarding school. I've tried not only to make the geographical change but the cultural ones. You may notice that the wizarding world in this story has more of an American attitude. 

Chapter 1:Not Your Ordinary Mall 

Brendan Spyrn stood rooted to his feet. It had been only one week since the fateful letter had arrived, carried by an owl. 

He reached down into his one of his pant pockets and fished out the ragged piece of parchments, in it's current condition from being read over and over again. He checked it over one last time, just to make sure that it he hadn't misread the letter's message:_he was a wizard._

_Dear Mr. Spryn,_

_The Neryh School of Magic has detected magical ability in you. Thus, we are offering you a seven-year scholarship at the school for absolutely nothing(the Neryh School is a low-profit organization.) Term begins August 21rst. The train shall depart on August 19th._   
_This letter is essentially breif due to the fact that a Neryh teacher will be your guide for a tour. This tour shall take you to the Wizard Mall to shop for your school supplies. The teacher will also give you essential advice to get on the train on the 19th. This tour shall occur on the 12th. We shall come to pick you up._   
_Send a reply by the owl that delivered this message to confirm your attendance at Neryh._

_ -Syrok Derifer_   
_ Headmaster of Nehyr School of Magic_

That had been three weeks ago. After a lengthly discussion with his parents, Brendan had sent a reply with the brown owl that had delivered the letter. 

But he hadn't been expecting _this_. 

It was around noon on the 12th. Brendan had been camped out since breakfast waiting for the teacher to pick him up. He had expected a car or bus or something sensible. But a bus had just appeared in front of him suddenly. But it wasn't really a bus. For one thing, it didn't have wheels. For another, it was floating two feet above the ground. It was almost sort of transparent, but he was sure it was solid-it just didn't look it. 

"Well, don't just stand there all day gawking." a curt, feminine English voice came from inside the bus. "The invisibility boosters are going to blow the way you kids just stand there. I mean, I know you kids are Muggle-born and haven't seen a floating bus before but you knew stuff like this was going to happen! Honestly, it's not that hard. Kids these days, they don't have any openness in their minds..." 

Eager to get the voice to stop yacking, Brendan bunched up his legs and springed up to the stairs. He climbed up and saw that the interior of the "bus" wasn't transparent at all. It was full of kids about his age, all of whom looked utterly uncofortable. The teacher was still droning on about the close-minded kids today or something or other. Brendan sighed and took a window seat two rows back from the driver. He looked at the teacher who finally stopped lecturing. She was tall and wore black robes. Neatly combed brown hair topped the stern face. 

"Only one more stop and then we're going to The Mall." the teacher said, her English accent this time set to "moderately cheerful." As this was said Brendan was looking out the window. His neighborhoud looked faded from the bus's windows. The steady hum of a motor filled the bus. Suddenly, the vehicle lurched foward. Brendan's neighborhood vanished from sight, a white abyss taking it's place. The bus shot ahead like a rocket. Brendan hadn't put his seatbelt on and veered off into the aisle and in a few second, ended up being flattened against the back of the bus by the g-forces. He tried to step foward, but his foot fealt like it was made out of lead. 

"NEXT TIME PUT YOUR SEAT BELT ON!" the teacher/bus driver yelled at Brendan. After a minute, they left the abyss and now touched town in a classier neighborhood. The bus stopped in front of a three-story home. Nobody was waiting on the lawn. The bus driver hummed impatiently for a minute then finally punched the middle of the steering wheel several times, each one letting out a honk louder than the last. Finally an energetic girl about Brendan's age appeared at one of the second-floor windows. And screeched instantly. The busload of kids all instantly clapped their hands onto their ears. 

"GODAMNIT, KIDS TODAY ARE SUCH NARROW-MINDED BRATS!" the teacher yelled, and with one movement, had one hand outstreched, pointed at the girl, and holding a twelve-inch wand. "_MUTIO!_" A ball of silver light formed at the end of the wand that was pointing at the girl. The girl didn't move out of the screaming posture, but she suddenly stopped making a sound. She soon realized this, shut her mouth, and ran out of view. 

The bus driver/teacher sighed. "Karen, can you please go up and talk to her?" A ginger-haired girl near the back nodded and ran out. "It'll be another minute, kids." the driver said as the silver ball at the end of her wand sparked out like a fire. 

Brendan could see the bus riders' expressions change instantly. Now that they had seen the power of magic, they were eager to learn how to do stuff like the spell-Mutio, maybe that was what he had heard-that the teacher had cast. In fact, one of the students had moved up to the front already and was shooting rapidfire questions out at the bus driver. Personally, he wasn't so estatic. Sure, it was cool, but they'd probably have to do a bunch of easier spells before they learned stuff like that. And anyways, it was probably really hard to learn. If they could just point a wand and do whatever they wished for, the world would have been blown up eras ago because of some angry teenager. 

But still...a vision flashed into his mind. His mom was yacking to him about responsibilities after he had forgotten to take out the garbage. Suddenly..._mutio_! His mom couldn't make a sound! He laughed to himself, but was brought to attention by the questions of the kid in front of him, like peas being shot at his head. He shook his fantasy away and started paying attention to the kid in front of him with the quirky voice that had brought him to attention. 

"Waddaya teach?" 

"Charms." the teacher mumbled disgrunteldly. 

"Waddaya teach in Charms?" 

"Basic magical spells." 

"Waddilwe be learnin' first?" 

"Probably the Light Charm." The driver fidgjeted in his seat, and his tone of voice was becoming more annoying. 

"Cool. Waddother classes do we take?" 

"Transfiguration, Care of Magical Creatures, Potions, Herbology, a bit of Astronomy, a bit of Flying, History of Magic, Defense Against the Dark Arts, I think that's all." 

"Waddare-" The boy'snext question was cut off by the doors _swoosh_ing open. The girl who had left five minutes before was back, with the girl they were picking up standing next to her. The second girl wore a distraught expression on her face, and she had obviously been crying. 

The two girls walked towards the back of the bus. "Alright, we'll be going to ther Mall now." the teacher said, streching her arms and putting her wand away. _She looks glad to be rid of that kid's questions_ Brendan noted with a smile. "Better buckle up." she said cheerfully. Brendan quickly obeyed. 

Soon enough, the dim, high-class neighborhood faded away to the white void they had been in earlier. The float-bus let out a burst of speed and once again Brendan was pressed back against his seat. But this time he wasn't flung into the aisle. The g-forces were killer. 

_Hey, look at it this way._ he said to himself, managing a grin. _Some people have to pay a lot of money for rides that aren't half as good as this. You never go on those rides, of course, but..._

Suddenly, the oblivion ended. The wheelless bus was now hovering above a cobblestone sidewalk. The sun shone brightly on the sidewalk, and he could now see perfectly out at the row of stores(instead of the faded views of the neighborhoods before.) The people buisily bustled about like any mall. Unlike a normal mall, most of the shoppers were wearing weird robes. They could be found in any colour, but most noticably all of them were wearing black robes and a few had point witch's hats. 

"All right, time to go shopping." the teacher's English voice said cheerfully. "I'll hand out the lists of the things you need to buy and guide you along." The teacher walked down the aisle, giving each student a piece of paper. As soon as Brendan had recieved his list, he flipped it over impatiently to see what it said. 

_Nehyr School Supply List_

_Going into your first year you'll need:_

Books   
_A Guide to Spells, Volume 1_   
_Curses and Creatures_   
_A Begginer's Guide to Transfiguration_   
_Magic Throughout the Ages_   
_Your Magicl Creatures:An A-Z for begginers_   
_Potions, Potions and More Potions_

Wardobe   
_Three standard sets of robes_   
_Pointed Hat_   
_Formal set of robes_   
_Shoes, preferably matching your robes_

Other Important Equiptment   
_Wand(obviously)_   
_Small Cauldron(Pewter, size 4)_   
_Basic Potion Ingrediants_

Pets   
_The following pets will be permitted at Nehyr:_   
_-Owls_   
_-Toads_   
_-Cats_   
_-Small Dogs_

Broomsticks   
_First years are not permitted to bring broomsticks. Second years and above may bring broomsticks of any kind as long as they are not deemed unsafe._

After Brendan had finished reading it, he saw that all of the other students were filing out of the bus. He quickly ran up to catch them. The entire Mall had an English appearance, but a very North American atosphere. Why the sidewalks and roads were seperate he couldn't understand because people walked across the road freely and there were no cars. His thoughts were quickly interrupted as he saw the tail end of the tour entering a large golden building. He rushed foward. As he ran up the steps, he saw that a sign hanging on the building said "Official American Wizarding Bank of Congress." _So this is a bank_ he thought to himself as he swung open a lightweight door. 

The students were all lined up behind the Charms teacher. Brendan ran to the back of the line and saw what was happening. Each student was being passed a blue bag tied up at the top, like those from old fairy tales. At last Brendan walked up and recieved his. He instantly tore it open to find a mixture of gold, silver and bronze coins. _This must be wizard money_ he thought to himself incredously. 

"The gold ones are Galleons, the silver are Sickles, and the bronze Knuts." the teacher explained as they headed to another store. _Gold:Galleons, Silver:Sickles, Bronze:Knuts_ Brendan stored in my memory as he stared into shop windows. There were broomsticks to fly on! He noted to himself that the fictional world of wizardry wasn't all that inaccurate. They reached their next stop:a bookstore called _Books, More Books, Even More Books, Yet Even More Books, and Gargantums of Yet Even More Books._

Chuclking to himself, Brendan stepped into the modern-looking bookstore. It looked quite like a normal bookstore, except for, obviously, the books. Brendan read off the titles, each one more amusing than the last: 

_Curses in Combes_   
_Yagami Mind Puzzles:Test your Mind and Magic_   
_The Gryphon Connection_   
_Elixir:The Life and Times of Nicholas Flemming_

"Excuse me Mr. Spryn." his teacher/guide's voice said, piercing through his cluttered mind. "But the 'Students' section is back there." Brendan nodded and grumly picked up the books on his list. Each one was a thick, hardcover book. They were for studying, and looked it too. Not that he was regretting it, he found magic fascinating. It wasn't like in cartoons, he guessed that witches and wizards had their own society, their own sports, their own shops and schools. 

After they had purchased their books(rounding out to about 3 Sickles a piece), they went down the street to _The National Apothacy:Potions For Everyone _where they had potion ingredients and cauldrons, not to mention an overwhelming stench. Obviously one of their classes was Potions. 

"Ah, first 'ears, eh Mardil?" the elderly cashier said. "I rememba when you were comin' in 'ere. Yeth, you were all jittery and excited abou' Nehyr. Well, marbe I'll be seein' you when yar' all grown up!" The cashier chuckled and poked a girl. "Curmon in, and don't mand the smell, it'll be fian once you get use to it." 

"We don't plan to stay here long enough to do that." the teacher whose name was Mardil said curtly as she lead the to-be students to the back of the shop, where the unplacable stench grew even stronger. "Pick up a small cauldron and a potions kit, give two Galleons to the man at the front and get out of here." The cauldrons weren't large like the kind that were seen in comics, they were about the size of a desktop in Brendan's world. Brendan picked both of the items up and flung two of the gold coins towards the clerk. 

Once they had left, the teacher stopped holding her nose and split the students into two groups. "The first group will get their wands at Magic Sticks, and the second group will get their wardrobe at Priscilla's Fine Clothes for Young Sorcerers." she instructed. "Then we'll meet up here when each group is done and change places. That should take care of everything required." 

Brendan was in the first group. Magic Sticks was a small shop that had a picture of two wands on the door as a family crest of whatnot. However, the inside was not warm and cozy. As soon as they entered, about six members of the hired help jumped out and scrambled over to the kids, each kid having a wand stuffed into their hands for only a second before it was yanked out again and another one was thrusted. The wands weren't all nondescript ones, different ones appeared to be made out of a different type of wood and/or had different lengths. Finally it was Brendan's turn. 

The process wasn't any more comfortable than it looked. Wands were being thrust into his hand, and he couldn't possibly see how this would test which wand fit him. "Hmmm...none of these models are working, maybe we have something esle..." The female that was fitting wands into his hands walked back behind a purple curtain. Brendan looked around, and picked up the closest wand-just to know what it felt like to hold one for more than one second. The wand that he held in his hand glowed green suddenly. The attendant walked back in, holding a bunch of other wands. 

"Where did you get that wand!" She demanded, prying the glowing wand from Brendan's hand. As soon as she did, the wand stopped glowing. Brendan merely tapped the basket he had pulled the wand out of. "B-b-b-b." the attendant studdered. "That's just a display wand! It dosen't match anyone's energy signirature, it's used for demonstrations and basic spell casting! Yet it glows like it matches yours... I'll have to ask the manager." The attendant dashed back behind the curtain with the wand in her hand. A second later, she re-emerged. 

"He says that you can have the wand if it matches your signirature." the attendant said rapidly. "That'll be five Galleons, please." Brendan pulled five of the gold coins out of his pouch and handed them to the attendant, who pushed Brendan aside afterwards. The 11-year-old boy walked out of the shop, marveling at his new wand. He had been able to match the wand's energy signirature, whatever that was. Any wand would have done, but it felt even better knowing that he had an _exclusive_ one. He turned the eleven-inch wand over in his hand, thinking of his power. This was a weapon, stronger than anything from Brendan's world. And it was a defensive tool, too. And dozens and dozens of utilities. Thousands of human-or, as the wizards would say, Muggle-machines mized into one eleven-inch baton that didn't even require any power. It was mind-boggling. 

He couldn't say that Priscilla's Fine Clothes sold such powerful items. In fact, all of their robes were black and stiff. Like Magic Sticks, there were several attendants serving the juvenile visitors franticly. But this time it was _clothes_ shopping and not looking for a magic stick. In the end Brendan settled on the least snobbish-looking robes, quickly paid for them and left to meet his group. 

"Quiet down, quiet down!" the teacher repeated, simmering down the rapidfire whispers. "Now we have done all neccesary for Nehyr School of Magic. Sometime before noon on August 19th, please report to the nearest Nurcius's Pizza Nebula , there should be one nearby. The store will be closed, but tap your wand on the door and it will open. Go into the kitchen and you should find a wizard able to assist you on your way to the train which will take you to Nehyr. I doubt you will remember this in a week, so I am passing out scrolls which have the directions printed on them." _Scrolls? _Brendan thought to himself. _What's wrong with paper? And a pizza joint? This place sure is different.___

_But different in a good sort of way _he added as the scroll joined his large bag of robes, books and other magical equiptment including his special, powerful wand. 


	2. Departing Wizards

nehyr2 Chapter Two:Departing Wizards 

In his eleven years of experience, Brendan knew that if you were dreading something it would seem to come sooner, and if you were looking forward to something it would stretch out the time that you were waiting indefinitely, especially during the last few hours. However, he was actually eager to learn about magic but also nervous. He _was_ Muggle-born after all. Suppose he didn't fare well at Nehyr? Somehow these two reasons canceled each other out and the week went by like any other week. 

However, sometime the system plays tricks on you. Sometimes things that you're nervous about decide that it would be more satisfying to watch the time drag out one minute at a time, watching the knot in your stomach grow until it takes an hour to untangle your digestive system. This is what Brendan felt the morning of August 19th. Losing in a combat against loss of sleep, he had rose nearly as early as 7:00(oh, the humanity!) The worst part was that nothing took his mind off it. _I bet the don't have TVs at Nehyr_ he thought to himself, but didn't even bother turning on the tube. _They won't have computers either. Better tell my e-mail contacts that I won't be available for the next ten months. _He e-mailed his Internet freinds(and phoned his school ones), saying that he was going to a boarding school(it was technically true), but didn't surf the Internet despite his instincts to check his favorite sites one last time. 

Finally, after a good two hours, his parents were up(although obviously they wanted to roll over and go back to sleep for another six hours) along with Brendan's little sister Emily, all three soullessly chewing on their cereal. _Will they have cereal at Nehyr? _Brendan asked himself, trying to amuse himself because one of his first attempts to shorten the wait was having peanut butter on toast(_did they have that at Nehyr?_) Sure, he had tried reading _Magic Throughout the Ages_, but it was really designed for those who were raised as wizards. He had, however, just finished reading through _A Guide to Spells, Volume 1 _and was going to start on _Curses and Creatures_. 

"Well..." Brendan's father said reluctantly. "I guess it's time to go. Where were those directions?" Brendan meekly handed his father the scroll he had been given. "Hmm..._Nurcius's Pizza Nebula_...I think I've seen a place near the edges of town of that name." 

"I'll get the phone book." Brendan offered. 

"No, this is fine." Brendan's dad said, holding up his hand. "I remember where it is. Trust me." 

* * * 

_Mental Note_ Brendan thought to himself. _There's a lot of stuff "near the edges of town."_ They had been driving for almost half an hour and they were still lost in the endless mazes of small stores and townhouses. "Oh, yield a little faith!" his dad would retort every time he was told that maybe they _should_ have used the phone book instead of trusting him. 

"Why can't Brendan just use his magic wand to get to Nehirie." six-year-old Emily Spryn suggested, bouncing around in her seat. 

"Number one, I don't know any spells." Brendan sighed, laying back in his seat. "Number two, I can't use magic or else I'd get in trouble. Number three, you can't do anything you want just because you have a wand. And number four, it's _NEHYR!_" 

"Brendan, please be patient with your sister" Brendan and Emily's mom said, massaging her temples. "She's only six, she still watched cartoons and can't pronounce big words like-THERE IT IS!" 

"I can say that!" Emily protested, but was thrown right by the car's veer. They were now in the parking lot of a typical pizza parlor, but it was closed. Brendan eyes darted around hopefully, and he soon saw it resting on the parlor wall:a sign saying "NURCIUS'S PIZZA NEBULA:CLOSED FOR RENOVATIONS." There were no signs of construction that were seen through the windows, though. Brendan's mom hugged him until Brendan could escape and run up to the door. 

He breathed in and first tried to open the door-it was locked. Finally, he breathed in and pulled out his wand(the only thing not stuffed away) and tapped lightly on the door handle. He jumped back, startled, as the door swang open, but quickly ducked inside. As soon as he had done so, the door slammed shut behind him. A chill went up his spine. 

"Ah, you're one of the Muggle-born first years." A voice said. A small teenager walked out. "Isn't it great? All of the magic and such?" 

"I guess." Brendan said uncertainly. 

"And at Nehyr you get to learn how to use it! Of course, you can't use it outside of school until you graduate. Ho boy, I remember this one first year...over the summer he got really mad at his cousin, you see, and cast a bunch of jinxes. The poor boy was terrified...of course, the Ministry of Magic put Memory Charms on everybody, but the first-year was still expelled...oh, am I rambling again?" Brendan nodded. "Well, sorry about that. "Anyway, follow me." 

The attendant latched open the counter, and Brendan walked through timidly. He could now see that there was a set of stairs behind the counter. "C'mon down." the attendant invited, and Brendan followed him down the stairs. The stairs lead to a wall with a circular keyhole. The attendant flipped out what must have been a mahogany wand with a gold trim around the center. He inserted the wand into the hole until the gold trim disappeared, then pulled the wand back out. The wall slid away to reveal a long hallway. As soon as Brendan and the attendant stepped into the hallway, the wall slid back into place behind them. 

They continued down the hallway until they reached another wall with a hole, where the attendant inserted his wand into. The wall once again slid away, this time to reveal a much broader set of stairs. "Well, this is the stop." Brendan nodded and climbed up the stairs as the attendant turned back to "unlock" the wall. 

Brendan's mouth gaped open when he reached the top of the stairs. There must have been hundreds of people, all gathered on either side of the train tracks that ran down the middle. Children from the ages of ten to eighteen were all clustered near the train tracks, most wearing normal-whoops, he meant _Muggle_-clothes. However, what must have been there parents gathered farther away, smiling and wearing coloured robes. Brendan could feel that the place was underground. All of the students were carrying luggage like Brendan. Brendan fit right in there as he leaned against the rail, looking for any trains to come down the tracks. 

"C'mere and get them! Just printed last year! Nehyr's two hundred year history explained in exactly 1001 pages by great historian Kira Dem! Only a Galleon a book!" Although a 1001 page book wouldn't normally be on Brendan's shopping list, he dug out a gold coin from last week and handed it to the man who was selling "A History of Nehyr." Brendan received a copy of the book in return and plopped down on a bench to start reading it. 

_Foreword_

_Wizarding schools have been around for many years, from the famous European Hogwarts to the under construction Brazilian Deregon. The first wizarding schools were those located in Europe:the English Hogwarts, the French Bauxbatons and the (location unknown) Durmstrang. Soon after the Egyptian Carnifor was opened, but it was not until a century later that Australia and Japan copied the trend with the Korpea and Arinas schools. The next wizarding school, after much delay, was the Chinese Shuincta._   
_Despite these developments, the western world still had no public magical education. Most wizards in North or South America were taught by their parents, except for those who were wealthy enough to afford private tutors. Because of the facts that knowledge handed down slowly loses truth and that parents were too busy with their jobs to teach much, magical education was slowly becoming poorer and poorer in the Americas...that is, until five young adults in the late 1700s decided to build an American wizarding school._

Brendan read the first few chapters about how five teenagers had came up with the idea to build an American wizarding school, but faced many difficulties getting materials from the government. He had just gotten up to the point where Elizabeth Garan had finally made a speech to convince the current Ministry of Magic to give them the resources when he heard a loud steam whistle blow. Brendan looked up to see a train rushing down the train tracks. Then, it gradually began to slow down until it stopped right in front of the crowds of people eagerly waiting for it, or so it seemed. 

Like magic(which it probably was, Brendan had to stop using that saying), the railings vanished and the gaps between the cement and the train shortened into a single inch. The kids streamed through the open doors onto the train. Brendan allowed himself to be swept up in the torrent. The train had many cars, and most of the kids seemed to be chatting with friends while finding a spot. Brendan just walked around until he found a pair of empty seats and sat in the window one, and resumed reading _A History of Nehyr, _but he had only been reading a minute when a female voice boomed throughout the train. It didn't come over speakers or anything, it was just a loud female voice as if a giant was speaking. 

"HELLO, STUDENTS OF NEHYR AND WELCOME TO THE YEAR OF 2005-2006. THIS TRAIN WILL REMAIN AT REST FOR TWO MORE HOURS, AFTER WHICH TIME WE WILL BE TRAVELING TO NEHYR. FOR PROTECTION, THE LOCATION OF NEHYR SHALL NOT BE REVEALED. AT THIS POINT I SHALL NOT REVIEW MANY RULES, I LEAVE THAT JOB TO MR. DERIFER. HOWEVER, I REMIND YOU TO CHECK THE CLOCKS SO YOU KNOW WHEN TO CHANGE INTO YOUR ROBES, AND PETS SHOULD BE KEPT IN CAGES FOR THE DURATION OF THE TRIP. SNACK CARTS SHALL TRAVEL DOWN THE TRAIN REGULARLY, AS WELL AS ONE FOR LUNCH. FEEL FREE TO SOCIALIZE WITH ANY OF YOUR FELLOW STUDENTS, BUT PLEASE DON'T GET INTO ANY FIGHTS." The announcement stopped and discussion around Brendan resumed. 

Brendan resumed reading his book for another hour. He dimly noticed somebody sit down to him about the same time as he read _despite Nehyr's progress, an argument would soon halt the school's building for months_. But that person soon became very noticeable. "Hi!" the person, who was a female, said quickly and energetically. "Whoareyou?" 

"Uh...I'm Brendan." Brendan said. The girl was about Brendan's size and age, and had blond hair with deep blue eyes. 

"I'mPenny." the girl, Penny, said in the same tone as before. "Youlooknervous. AreyouaMudblood?" 

"Mudblood?" Brendan asked, once again wishing he knew more about the wizarding world. There were things you could learn off of books, and things you had to experience. Wizarding language obviously fit into the second group. 

"Ohsorry, mymomsaysthatIshouldn'tsayMudblood'causeit'srude." Brendan hadn't finished making out what Penny had said before she continued. "Butallitmeansisthatyou'renotapurebredwizardlikeme. Idon'tthinkithasanyeffectonmagicalability, though." Penny appeared to wait until Brendan had finished translating her quick talk in his head. "Isupposeit'sprofanethough, likeYou-Know-Who'sname." 

"No, I don't know who's name." Brendan said after a moment. 

"Wellmaybeyoudon'tknow, wejustcallhimyouknowwhobecausewedon'twanttosayhisname. You'llgetusedtoit." 

"Who's name?" Brendan persisteded. 

"Thelatedarklord!" Penny hissed. Brendan nodded and decided not to talk to Penny, but before he could go back to reading _A History of Nehyr_ Penny's eyes caught the book. "You'reafirstyearlikemeright?" Brendan, who was getting used to Penny's way of talking, nodded. "Haveyougottothepartwiththehousesyet?" Brendan shook his head. 

"Wellinthatcaseyouwon'tgettoitbytheSortingsoIguessit'suptometotellyou." Penny beamed. 

Brendan shook his head vigorously, not wanting to have to make out any more. "I...like to find stuff out by myself." Penny nodded and sat back. Brendan continued reading his book. He had actually gotten about a third of the way through it(amazingly, Penny hadn't interrupted him) when the loud voice started talking again. 

"THE TRAIN WILL NOW DEPART. LUNCH CARTS WILL COME AROUND SHORTLY." Almost immediately, the train started shaking. Brendan clutched his armrests in case the entire train burst apart right there and then. However, soon the movement appeared to be channeled into shooting forward. Brendan was flattened until he felt like he _was_ part of the back of the seat. He managed to move his head sideways to see a blur of blue, white and green flying past his window. The train began to slow down to a reasonable speed and suddenly it felt like they weren't moving. The scenery(which had now materialized into a grassy area, there was nothing to show exactly where they were) still rolled by, but the train appeared to be standing still. In his mind Brendan compared this to the Earth rotating on it's axis. 

The scenery didn't change during the next few minutes, but Brendan's attention was drawn away from the window by a metal cart coming down the aisle with a boy a few years older than Brendan pulling it. The cart was the kind that had stuff in it, not on it. The cart stopped at Brendan's row. "What would you like for lunch?" the boy operating the cart said. 

"Uh...do you have any cheeseburgers?" Brendan asked weakly. 

"Cheeseburgers?" the boy echoed. "They're a popular Muggle food, right?" Brendan nodded. "Well, we should have some..." From his cloak, the boy produced an oak wand about the size of Brendan's and rapped it on the lid of the cart several times. "_Cheeseburger._" Almost instantly, a fresh and delicious-looking cheeseburger appeared on the top of the lid. "Here's your...what was it again...cheeseburger." The boy handed it to Brendan. 

The boy continued down the aisle, and Brendan removed the pickles from the cheeseburger before devouring it. "Is_that_whatMugglefoodlookslike?" Penny asked, and Brendan had to readjust his mind to get used to Penny's speaking before he nodded. Penny didn't follow up on the subject, but just continued slurping the soup she had ordered. 

After Brendan had finished his cheeseburger, he continued reading his book(if he worked at it, maybe he could prove Penny wrong!) But his attention was only focused on his book until the snack cart came around half an hour later. Brendan anxiously ordered a lemon-lime drink, but was baffled as to what the other snacks tasted like. _Chocolate Frog, Berty Bott's Every Flavour Jellybeans, Licorice Wands, , , _the list went on and on. "I'll have the jellybeans, please." 

"Ifyouinsist." Penny said, giving Brendan a glance that read "you just made a collosally bad decision." "I'llhaveaChocolateFrog." The boy leaned closer to Penny, trying to make out what he had heard. "ChocolateFrog!" Penny yelled, making the older boy jump back, toss her a packaged Chocolate Frog, and turned to the next person. 

Brendan opened up his package of jellybeans and fingered one out. It was brown, and Brendan wondered what the flavour was and stuck it in his mouth. "Sppptspps!"he cried, spitting the jellybean onto the floor. Penny giggled. "It tastes like manure!" Brendan exclaimed. 

"That'sbecauseit_is_manure-flavoured." Penny laughed. 

"Who had the idea to make _manure_-flavoured jellybeans?" Brendan asked, spitting the last remains of the brown jellybean out of his mouth. Penny decided not to talk for once and simply rapped on the jellybean package with a smile. _A Risk with Every Mouthful _Brendan read. He quickly vowed revenge against whoever had dreamed up these horrors and ate another jellybean. _Mmm, grape pop_ he thought. 

The rest of the train ride was uneventful. About an hour later, the snack cart came back up the aisle and Brendan picked a Chocolate Frog, which actually tasted like chocolate and came with a cool Merwin card(although he found the wizard moving around the picture creepy.) There was one point where a boy about Brendan's age but of a nerdier stature came down the hall, collecting garbage and muttering something about punishment lightly. Four hours had passed since the train had departed. 

"Youshouldgetchangednow." Penny said energetically before dashing towards the back of the cart. Brendan reluctantly followed her to the change rooms and pulled out his black robes. _Black robes, black shoes, black hat_ Brendan thought to himself. _What is it wizards have against light colours? _His robes were all stiff and uncomfortable, but he was able to survive in them for half an hour before the train gradually began to slow down. 

He looked outside the train window. The sun was shining brightly, so Brendan could easily see the ominous gray castle in the distance. The castle was surrounded by asphalt and grass, and had five small towers behind it. The train slowed to a standstill and Brendan saw a stadium about the size of one used for football, but he guessed they used it for something much different. Finally, the voice boomed for a third time. 

"I WELCOME YOU ALL TO NEHYR SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY. FIRST YEARS SHOULD IMMEDIATELY FOLLOW PROFESSOR DARNITH FOR THE SORTING. ALL OTHER STUDENTS SHOULD PROCEED IMMEDIATELY TO THE AUDITORIUM FOR THE START-OF-YEAR FEAST. THANK YOU AND HAVE A GOOD YEAR AT NEHYR." Students flooded off the train the same way they had entered it. Once again, Brendan allowed himself to be caught up in the flood, at least until he was outside of the train and heard a woman shouting "First years over here! First years!" 


	3. Sorting, Feast, New Home

nehyr3 [AN:Hi, it's me the author again. Just so you know, I tried to induce more of an American theme in this chapter(along with Ch. 2, which I re-uploaded.] 

Chapter Three:Sorting, Feast, New Home 

The first-year students(or what Brendan assumed were them), lined up in an orderly fashion in front of what Brendan identified to be the teacher that had brought them on the trip earlier. Brendan quickly darted to the back of the line. The teacher looked almost bored, and some of the students looked anxious, while others wore a curious look. "Alright, time for the Sorting." the teacher siad. "When I call your name, follow me into my classroom. Afterwards, go to the auditorium and sit at the table of your new house. "Ayers, Greg." A boy jumped up in suprise, but uncertainly followed the Charms teacher. 

About a minute later, the Charms teacher returned. The boy, Greg Ayers, was nowhere to be seen-Brendan guessed he was at the feast like the older students, sitting down and trying to fit in with the other students of whatever house he had been sorted into. "Cerry, Victoria." A girl followed the teacher with a prideful stride. One minute later, the teacher returned again. "Cryus, Tom." 

And so this went on. Brendan breifly noted "Karee, Penny", before the girl eagerly bounced after the teacher. Finally, the teacher-he supposed her name was Professor Darnith-called "Spryn, Brendan." Brendan tried to follow the teacher casually, but he ended up chewing his nails. All that he had heard was "The Sorting." There had been no explanation, no directions other than "go to the Auditorium after it and sit with your new house." Brendan had no idea what was going to happen to him. 

Professor Darnith lead Brendan through a door on the front tower. Through the door there were spiral stairs that seemed to strech up forever. Luckily, the Charms teacher only went up to the third floor(although it still tired Brendan, who hated stairs but figured that he would have to climb many at Nehyr) and went through the door there. Brendan, with some hesitation, followed. 

The 'floor' was only one room. It had a wooden floor, with the odd poster talking about work habits or(in one case, reminders on how to do spells.) The room was about twice the size of a normal classroom, and had dozens of desks. There was a blackboard against the wall, and in the end it reminded Brendan of a classroom back home. Brendan took a seat in an empty desk. "This your room?" 

"Yup." Professor Darnith said, pulling out her wand. "Now, this'll all be over in a minute. _Srotio_!" Brendan braced himself for physical pain as a blue beam shot out of the wand, but all he felt was a slight ticklish sensation on the side of his head. This lasted for ten seconds until it vanihsed and Brendan could feel _something _inside his head. No-his brain, to be more accurate. He could just feel it, pulsing through his thought waves. _It was looking through his memories and emotions._ What was going on? Surely the Minsitry of Magic or whatever it was wouldn't permit this. 

_The teacher's a criminal._ Brendan thought fearfully. _She's doing this to all of the students! She's insane! I have to call for help! Get OUT you invader to my mind._ Brendan resisted every urge to tear through his forhead and tried to push the creature in his mind out, but to little success. 

"Garanis." 

The small voice had came out of nowhere and as soon as it had spoken, the creature in Brendan's mind vanished. Brendan stood up, a little shellshocked. "Congratulations, you didn't do anything irrational." Professor Darnith said. Brendan nodded vaguely. "Sorry, that's always trying on first years. But it's the best way as far as privacy's concerned. Hey, in England they use an enchanted _hat_. Anyways, your house will be Garanis. Go down to the auditorium and go to the Garanis table." Brendan nodded vaguely once again, still processing what she was saying. It _had_ been trying on Brendan-frightening, actually. 

"Professor Darnith." Brendan asked, finding his voice. "Did those memories that...thing...was looking through..." 

"I have no idea what the Srotio spell saw." Professor Darnith confirmed. "Now, please go down to the auditorium. I will deal with your bags." Brendan nodded once again, left the room, and shuffled down two flights of stairs. Once he had reached the bottom, he swung open the door and looked upon his new surroundings. The large room was decorated with banners spouting either "Welcome Back!" or some sort of crest. There were five long tables lined up in the auditorium, and at each one there were students(mostly older than Brendan) talking amongst themselves. At the base of a tall stage there was a smaller table at which adults who Brendan assumed were teachers sat. 

Brendan looked around the room, searching for the Garanis banner. _Sarazis, Kyronis, Aulis, Waradis...ah, Garanis_. The Garanis crest was a yellow dragon surrounded by blue fire on a red background. Brendan meekly walked over to the Garanis tabe and was welcomed by the two Prefects-students who were responsible for looking out for the students in their houses. Out of the corner of his eye, Brendan saw Penny wave at him from the Kyronis table, but he ignored her. The table that Brendan had sat down at resumed their discussions, except for one girl who looked aboout two years older than Brendan 

"So, your name's Brendan right?" the girl said. Brendan nodded shyly. "Well, it's good to have you here. Most of the first-years this year are going into Waradis, which sucks. No offense against them or anything. The key trait that makes up Waradis students is determination. But sometimes they can be a little too determined if you know what I mean-they don't care about the rules much, always end up getting loads of dermits." Brendan nodded once again, not sure of what to say. "You're Muggle-born, aren't you?" 

"Yeah." Brendan admitted. "Don't worry, I think I'm starting to get used to all of the things around here." 

"Well, don't worry about bloodlines." the older girl assured. "There's this one Aulis girl-she's a sixth-year but she still has trouble with third-year spells. And she's pure wizard too. Somehow she manages to pass each year, though. If you got sorted here, I know you'll get used to the wizarding enviorment sooner or later. Garanis's key trait is ingenuity."   


"Alright, so Waradis is Determination and Garanis is Ingenuity." Brendan comprehended. "What are the other house's key traits? Just curios." 

"That's a good thing." the girl said. "Kyronis, their trait is bravery. They think they're all heroes or something, but they tend to rush into things a lot without thinking. Like Aggie-I'll tell you about all that later. Aulis's trait is Justice. They're always trying to do what's fair and all that kind of stuff. Of course, life isn't fair but they think it is. And finally, Sarazis who have Loyalty as a main trait. I always found that kind of pathetic, but they get most of the important jobs. Oh, am I babbling again?" Brendan nodded, a sense of humor coming to his eyes after the nerve-wracking Sorting. At that moment, a boy about Brendan's age sat down next to him. Brendan remembered him as the boy who had been doing punishment on the train. 

"Hi." The boy started. "My name's Andrew. Andrew-" But Andrew was cut out by a loud clapping. The entire asssembly of students in the room looked up to the stage, where a middle-aged man stood. 

"That's the headmaster." The girl next to Brendan whispered to him, and Brendan passed the message along to Andrew, who nodded. The headmaster clapped his hands again. 

"HELLO, STUDENTS." the headmaster started, in a voice that reminded Brendan of the woman on the train. _They probably used some kind of voice-enloudening charm. _Brendan decided. "I AM YOUR HEADMASTER, MR. J. DERRIFER. I SEE MANY FAMILIAR FACES, AS WELL AS MANY NEW ONES. MANY OF THE FIRST-YEARS DO NOT KNOW NEHYR'S RULES, SO I SHALL NOW EXPLAIN THE PREMESIS. 

"ALTHOUGH WE TRY TO KEEP YOU YOUNGSTERS ENTERTAINED, THE PURPOSE OF NEHYR IS TO TEACH YOU MAGIC. THUS, ARE TEACHERS ARE VERY STRICT. WHENEVER A STUDENT CAUSES TROUBLE, THEIR HOUSE WILL BE GIVEN AN APPROPRIATE NUMBER OF DERMITS, AS WELL AS A SUITABLE PUMISHMENT FOR THE STUDENT. AT THE END OF THE YEAR, A PRIZE WILL BE GIVEN TO THE HOUSE WITH THE LEAST NUMBER OF DERMITS. FORTUNATELY FOR SOME OF YOU" -at this Mr. Derrifer cast a glance at Andrew, who just smiled and fidgeted in his seat- "DERMITS WILL NOT BE GIVEN UNTIL THE START OF TERM, WHICH IS MONDAY. 

"THERE ARE A LIST OF SOME 250 ITEMS THAT ARE NOT PERMITTED ON SCHOOL GROUNDS THT YOU CAN VIEW ALONG WITH THE FULL RULES BY MY OFFICE." Some students grinned as if it was some sort of private in-joke. "ON ANOTHER NOTE, QUIDDITCH TRYOUTS WILL BEGIN A WEEK TOMMOROW. ALL SECOND-YEARS AND ABOVE INTERESTED IN TRYING OUT SHOULD SIGN UP AT THE TABLE THAT WILL BE LOCATED IN THEIR HOUSE'S DINING AREA. 

"FINALLY, EACH STUDENT WILL RECIEVE A SCHEDULE TOMORROW FOR THEIR CLASSES. NEHYR USES A SIX-DAY, SIX-PERIOD SCHEDULE. AFTER YOUR THIRD YEAR, YOU WILL HAVE ELECTIVES. WELCOME BACK TO NEHYR AND I HOPE YOU HAVE A GOOD DINNER. _QUIETUS!" _The man pointed a wand at his thoroat and walked offstage. Instantly a variety of foods appeared on each table. Brendan spooned some pasta onto his plate and tried some wizard food. It didn't taste half bad, but it just tasted a bit different from what Brendan was used to. 

"As I was saying." Andrew said to him between gulps of some kind of flavoured rice. "I'm Andrew Yair, and I'm Muggle-born. You may have seen me on the train being punished. I'll try not to get too many dermits." 

"Hi, Andrew." the girl next to Brendan said. "I'm Kaylee, a third-year." The rest of the table also introduced themselves, including the two Prefects. 

After a few courses of delicious food, a bell rang that made all of the food vanish and be replaced with an array of deserts. Brendan gulped down a peanut-butter-and-chocolate dessert and some kind of wizard pie. _I think I'm going to like it here. _Brendan thought to himself. _Lots of interesting stuff, I get to learn magic and all this FOOD!_ "Do you always get this kind of food?" Brendan asked Kaylee. 

"No, just at feasts." the girl answered, munching on some nutty desert. "Normally we eat in our houses, and get served whatever we get served. But for occasions like holidays we get a feast like this." A few minutes later, Professor Darnith arrived at the head of the Garanis table. 

"Alright, boys and girls." Professor Darnith sighed. "Time to head back to the tower." The rest of the students nodded and followed the woman out the door. Night had fallen since Brendan had last been outside. The sky was a dark shade of blue, and the moon and stars began to twinkle in the sky. Brendan decided that Nehyr must be out in the middle of nowhere since the stars were visible more than they were in Brendan's home town. Each of the towers behind the main one had a glowing brick pattern around them, but each one was of a dirrefent colour. 

Professor Darnith lead Brendan, Kaylee, Andrew, and the rest of the Garanis students to the tower whose brick pattern was glowing blue. There was also a glowing blue INGENUITY in a Gothic font above a tragedy mask, but their was no doorway to speak of. Brendan watched as the Charms teacher removed her wand from a pocket in her robes. In the darkness, there was a blue ring around the middle of the teacher's wand that glowed like the golden ring around the wand of the helper Brendan had seen. Professor Darnith inserted her wand into the right eye of the Tragedy mask and-this was the strangest part-she just seemed to _melt_ into the door. The next person in line, the male Prefect, pulled out his wand, which also had a blue circle around it, put it into the mask's right eye up to the circle and too, melted through the door. This continued to happen to all of the other wizards or witches until Brendan came up to the mask. 

Brendan pulled his wand out from his pocket and found that it glowed blue around the middle like the other wands had. Nervously, Brendan put the wand into the right eye of the mask until the blue ring vanished. Then...he was _in _the tower. There was a fresh smell and Brendan saw that he was in some sort of kitchen, with a wooden floor, a wide table and a mask not unlike the one at the door hanging from the ceiling. Suddenly, he felt a body bump into him from behind. Brendan spun around to see Andrew standing there. "Oh, sorry." 

"Well, it wouldn't have happened if your freind here wasn't standing around just smelling everything!" A voice from above said. Brendan and Andrew practically jumped all the way up to the ceiling-which, they saw a minute later, held a tragedy mask like the one on the door. But this one had talked. "Oh, you two must be Mudbloods." the mask chuckled, and it's mouth moved. "Well there's a lot to get used to around here. Like hanging from the ceiling instead of tucked away into some old chest! Kidding, kidding, you won't have to hang from the cieling. Any fun at all is on the next floor up. Brendan looked around and saw a set of stairs tucked away into the corner of the kitchen. "See you in a few seconds!" The two Muggle-born boys quietly climbed up the stairs. 

The room on the second floor appeared to be a living room. It had blue drapery for the first few weet of the wall, after which sheets of graph paper where tacked to a wooden wall. There was a TV in the center of a wall unit, but it appeared not to have been used for a couple months. Several couches were scattered around the room. Above the wall unit an exact replica of the tragedy mask stood grinning, although it's eyes were still in a sorrowful position.  
  
"Oh, hi." Kaylee said, taking a short break from a conversation with another third-year girl. "This is where we are when we're not eating, sleeping or taking classes. Which dosen't occur all that often." Brendan and Andrew both nodded, Andrew more vaguely. "So you see, then Chris says..." Kaylee returned to her conversation with her freind.  
  
"Hey, aren't you that kid!" Brendan looked up to see an athletic first-year running towards him. "You were the retard who knocked all the food over in my car!" Andrew paled and nodded slowly. "I should teach you and your little freind a lesson!" At this point Professor Darnith walked over and cleared her throat. "Uh, don't do it again." the kid said nervously before dashing off."  
  
"I hope William didn't give you any trouble." Professor Darnith said. "I almost took it upon myself to punish him too after the accident in Andrew's car. But since he didn't do any physical damage..." The Charms teacher sighed. 

"I hope that between the two of them they don't make us add an extra two columns for dermits!" the mask chuckl Brendan noticed that just above the mask there were three score-notepad-things that they used at sports games to show the score. All three of the score-notepad-things had a "0" on them. Brendan guessed that these were for keeping track of dermits. 

"What's up with him?" Brendan asked, jerking a thumb towards the tragedy mask.   
  
"He's just our house spirit." Professor Darnith sighed(which, Brendan noted, was almost always how she talked.) "All of the houses have one, and they have three places they can view from:The first floor, the door or the second floor. Our one _happens_ to be a comedian. By the way, I'm your house supervisor."  
  
Brendan nodded and sat down on one of the couches with Andrew. "Hey." Andrew said, excited. "I know what they use that stadium for! Somebody told me that it's for a game called Kwidditch."  
  
They talked for about half an hour until when Professor Darnith told them that the first years had to go to bed now, where Brendan changed into the nightclothes he had packed(via one of the washrooms on the top floor), went down two floors to the boy's dorm and lay down into one of the average-sized beds there. Brendan had never slept easily, but 


End file.
